Providing a feeling of home and an authentic experience are considered important aspects of home-sharing services that have grown in popularity in recent years. The article is based on a qualitative study exploring how renters perceive and experience "home" and "feeling at home" within the context of short-term accommodation. Contrary to the literature pointing to the importance of an "authentic," "homely" feel, the findings show that Airbnb guests' homemaking practices are aimed at establishing a sense of distance. Guests "volitionally" dismiss a sense of home by avoiding typical everyday routines associated with their everyday life at home, thus contributing to Airbnb's distinctive "home-like" setting, where a feeling of welcome is combined with a sense of detachment and estrangement. The article advances research that emphasizes complex modes of dwelling where the homely and unhomely elements are simultaneously present.

In Eurasia, the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 20th century resulted in multidirectional and complex migration patterns and lingering territorial conflicts. This chapter specifically focuses on the two following directions: the post-1990s flow from the former Soviet Union to industrialized Asian countries, such as Japan, and the more recent migration of labour migrants from Central Asian and Transcaucasian countries to Russia. These two cases investigate a variety of experiences and practices of homemaking that help migrants develop positive attitudes towards unfamiliar and often unfriendly environments. They also show how a home can be created in public spaces such as ethnic cafes, where feelings of belonging are intensified through the taste of native food and the presence of familiar objects. The discussion of the notion of home also pays attention to the types of dwelling occupied by migrants, their moving experiences, and forms of housing tenancy and ownership.

This chapter outlines several ideas in the study of material culture, home and migration, focusing on two groups of objects. First, the category of diasporic objects is used to refer to domestic artefacts that act both as reminders and signifiers of migrants' cultural identity and heritage. While connecting migrants with their homeland, these objects also remind of one's detachment from it. Second, the category of sticky objects is deployed to describe artefacts that evoke difficult and, at times, 'dark' associations for their owners, who, however, continue keeping them, as if they got 'stuck' to them. Both groups of objects offer tools for capturing complex aspects of life at home and migration as well as feelings and emotions that accompany it. The chapter also highlights the embodied dimension of home by discussing how material objects can act as 'embodiment' of one's cultural identity and belonging as well as of difficult feelings of ambivalence and discomfort.

This chapter draws on a study which examined the interrelation between home, migration and cultural identity, using home-based qualitative interviews as the main method of data collection. As the chapter shows, while the home as an interview setting offers opportunities to see and discuss objects in their actual location as well as engage the senses, it also poses challenges of ethical and methodological nature. This chapter presents a discussion of the home interview situation and the ways it came to reveal different contexts and relationships that produced a host/guest dynamic that reflected various expectations from both the researcher and the participants. While the domestic space provides welcome and hospitality, it also imposes boundaries and rules. Overall, the chapter calls for a more methodologically nuanced and reflexive approach to the home-based interview that can uncover meanings, attachments and relationships that affect both participants and researchers.

Contingency plans and crisis management strategies have been implemented by the short-term rental industry to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper examines the strategies adopted by three key groups of stakeholders: short-term rental platforms (e.g. Airbnb, Booking.com), service providers (represented by property management companies and short-term rental associations) and policymakers/tourism experts. The professional service providers, in particular, constitute a significant share of the short-term rental industry, but have not received much scholarly attention. In this respect, our study fills this gap by bringing attention to unexplored segments of the short-term rental industry. By examining and comparing the responses from these key groups, the paper contributes to the ongoing research about the workings of the short-term rental industry and its responses to the COVID-19 crisis.

Purpose Adopting Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour theoretical framework, this paper aims to explore repurchase intentions among short-term rental users and changes in determinants of repurchase intention in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach Data for the research was collected via a cross-country quantitative survey (N = 1,433) in five European countries: Croatia, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the UK during 2020. Trust, perceived value, authenticity and perceived risk were incorporated into the structural equation model as part of an integrated analysis of antecedents of repurchase intention. Findings Perceived value and authenticity are the key drivers of a positive attitude to repurchase of short-term rentals even after the pandemic. The pandemic modified the role of perceived risk in determining attitude towards short-term rentals as perceived risks could negatively affect attitude and repurchase intention after COVID-19. Trust in the platform and the host became a significant determinant of repurchase intentions after the spread of COVID-19. Research limitations/implications The analysis has shown the link between attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and repurchase intention, and has thus demonstrated a successful application of the theory of planned behaviour to short-term rental users. Originality/value The results of this study suggest a possible reconceptualisation of repurchase determinants due to the pandemic. The study offers a timely contribution to the research on the impact of the pandemic on the determinants of tourists' repurchase intentions.

The article aims to contribute to the growing literature on exploring relationships between objects, homes, and identities in the context of migration. Using examples from a qualitative study of homemaking practices of Russian-speaking communities in the UK, the article discusses how the presence and use of certain objects and foods reflects complex meanings about home and belonging. Specifically, the article deploys the idea of ?diasporic? objects that signify the ambivalent nature of migrants? relationships with their past and present homes simultaneously acting as symbols of connection and detachment. As the objects ?travel? through different homes so too do their meanings, and, through this, ?diasporic? objects accumulate new values and biographies embedded in wider cultural and transnational contexts. Analytically, the concept of diasporic objects is offered as a way to approach the feeling of home as a changing category that is (re)produced through memories and senses, as well as through particular ways of appropriation and personalisation of spaces and places.

This blog brings together two projects: a sociological study of Airbnb Homes and People – that used qualitative interviews with hosts and guests – and a photographic project My Airbnb Memories by photographer Ken Kajoranta. How home is defined, maintained, and constructed is a focal point for both projects.

This article investigates the transitioning process of international Chinese undergraduate students studying in Russia. The paper offers new insights into changes in the expectations and experiences of Chinese students at various stages of their joint educational studies in China and Russia. Drawing on a qualitative study of 20 Chinese undergraduates studying in Russia, the findings of the study indicate that before studying in Russia, most of Chinese students had low expectations about their study programme. However, once they were in Russia, students? perception of the value of their international education experiences changes through varied opportunities for self-reflexivity in an unfamiliar cultural environment. The study also offers an example of methodological approach useful for researching international students? experiences, particularly within but not limited to context of Sino-Foreign university partnerships.